The Biker and the Loner (Oil and Water #3)- S. Ann Cole Page 0,24

jolts me forward since I’m still between his thighs.

But as if he was expecting it, Onyx is up and gone before Scratch's fist could connect. “C’mon, man, look at her! She’s a walking temptation.”

"I'm gonna kill him," Scratch swears.

I just laugh, because that's Onyx. He's mischievous and provoking and does it all with a big grin.

Lying back on the blanket, Scratch takes me with him. I set the half-eaten bucket of popcorn aside and turn so I'm lying on top of him, chest to chest. He folds his arms behind his head, gaze trained up at the sky. "You thought about me over the last few days?" he asks.

For every minute of every second. "A little," I lie. Then I ask, "Did you sleep with anyone over the last few days?"

His gaze shifts from the inky sky to me. "That's what you thought about when you were thinking of me 'a little'?"

"Maybe."

"No good, then." He sighs roughly. "Hmm. Can't say I've ever been here before."

"What?"

"No," he replies in answer to my earlier question, gaze to the sky again. "I haven't."

"And since you got back… Have you been with anyone?”

"In my first year of deployment, there were eight of us in my squad,” he starts disjointedly. “They all had wives or girlfriends or children waiting back home. That tour was brutal. The shit we experienced... In the end, only two of us were left standing. It made me so angry. How unfair was that shit? They had families waiting for them back home, and I didn’t. But I was the one who got to live?

“But then there were times when I phoned Onyx and he’d tell me you’re still single, and I'd get my hopes up that maybe…maybe I did have someone waiting for me. That thought, that idea, helped me more than you'd ever know." He flips over, taking me with him so that we're on our sides and facing each other. "Fast forward to years later, when the copter was spiraling out of the sky...I knew that was the end for me. When I closed my eyes and braced for it, I didn't think about Grunt, or Kenny, or the club. I thought about you. In those short, sharp, terrifying seconds, I imagined a life with you, and it brought me the peace I needed to face death like a man."

And he was the only one who survived that crash.

He sweeps his thumb across my cheek. "I’m still thinking 'bout you, Ley. You. Only you."

I close my eyes and lean into his touch. "Do you believe you were spared for a reason?"

When seconds pass and he doesn't answer, I open my eyes and find his staring into mine. That's when he answers, "Yeah."

We lay like that for the longest time. Until one of the staff members comes over to tell us they're about to close the gates. When we sit up and look around, we’re surprised to see that we’re the only patrons remaining. Everyone’s gone.

Laughing, I roll up the blanket while Scratch gets the motorcycle running. After stowing the blanket in the storage compartment, I turn to find Scratch watching me over his shoulder. His hand shoots out and pulls me around so I'm standing in front of him.

"Ride with me tonight."

I've been around the Heathens long enough to know that when a biker asks you to ride with him, it's a high compliment. It's synonymous with "be mine." With "trust me to carry you." With "come along for the crazy ride with me."

I let him sweat for a full minute before I smile and say, "Okay."

He tugs at my ponytail before lowering his mouth to mine. Kissing me with the tenderest passion. His smile is genuine and quiet when he lets me go. Maybe he's really changed. Maybe he hasn't. All I know is that right now, he makes me feel good—which is far and in-between for me. So, I'm going to go along for the crazy ride for now. Low expectations, no emotions.

Straddling his bike, I wrap myself around him. He squeezes my thigh to check that I'm good. And then we ride all night. No destination, no questions. The wind as our guide.

When he finally takes me home, dawn is on the verge of breaking free, the inky darkness of the sky fading into a youthful blue.

He parks and spins around on the bike so we're facing each other, then pulls me close, our bodies flush against each other. We suck faces like randy teenagers,